My son won't poo!

[Harriet231]

I'm ashamed to say that my son is 6 and he still won't poo on the toilet. When we first did toilet training he would hold his poo in until bed time and would then poo in a nappy. He's been dry at night for ages but still won't poo on the toilet. He holds it in which then causes constipation, and he has accidents in his pants. He will sometimes sit on the toilet and will sit there for ages but won't let it come out. The GP has prescribed movocol, and the health visitor hasn't been very helpful. He eats plenty of fruit and veg and drinks lots of water. It's making our lives a misery as I'm constantly having to clean up accidents and I just can't understand why he won't poo on the toilet. if anyone has any suggestions I'd be really grateful as I'm desperate!

This is really common and nothing to be ashamed of.

First thing, let him use a nappy but have him go into the toilet to poo. Change him, flush the poo down the toilet, let him wipe with toilet paper (after you've cleaned him) and flush that too, and wash hands.
Once that is set as the routine slowly add sitting on the toilet in the nappy to poo.

After a month or two make a hole in the nappy so the poo falls into the toilet.

Then cut away more and more of the nappy each time until you have nothing left.

You might need to open out a clean nappy and put it in the toilet so he's pooing on that when you first cut the hole.

Good luck.

Try not to worry it really is a common problem that loads of school age kids go through.

My younger sister had this problem. She said she was scared of the poo falling in the water (I don't know why this would be scary but there you go). My mum would put my sister on the toilet and put her hand right underneath my sisters bottom (with plenty on toilet paper on her hand) to catch the poo. Each time she'd put her hand a bit lower so the poo would fall further. Eventually it was falling in to the water and my sister realised there was nothing to worry about.

If your son has been withholding and constipated for a while he may need disimpacting (an increasing dose of Movicol over several days till his bowel is completely empty, and pooing brown water) before dropping back down to a lower maintenance dose. And though he is reluctant to sit on the toilet, try to establish a routine of going 20 minutes or so after every meal as that is when the bowels are more likely to open. As previous posters have said, this is common, but very stressful. The ERIC website has a page of information about the very problem.

Could you let him sit on the toilet with an iPad? Or put a potty in front of the TV, so he's feeling relaxed?

My son also took a long time to poo out of a nappy. We did the potty thing and then he gradually became happy just using the loo.

Hi

Just wondering if your little one progressed and any tips? My little girl is 3.5 and I have been trying for 4 months now and she won’t poop in the loo.